is a 2001 action-adventure stealth game developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2. Directed, produced, designed, and written by Hideo Kojima, it is the fourth mainline game in the Metal Gear series and the sequel to Metal Gear Solid (1998). Divided into two chapters, the prologue "Tanker" section focuses on Solid Snake as he infiltrates a hijacked Marine Corps ship to obtain evidence of a new Metal Gear mecha named Metal Gear RAY. The primary "Plant" section revolves around rookie FOXHOUND agent Raiden infiltrating the Big Shell, a massive offshore clean-up facility seized by the terroristic Sons of Liberty, who hold the President of the United States hostage and threaten to destroy the facility if their demands are not met. However, the protagonists soon uncover a world-shaking conspiracy constructed by a powerful organization known as the Patriots, exploring many themes such as memetics, social engineering, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and the internal struggle of freedom of thought.
Developed over four years with a team of over 100 people, Metal Gear Solid 2 features many new gameplay mechanics over its predecessor, including multi-level environments, squad-based enemy AI, and first-person aiming. Raiden was notably kept hidden from marketing material, which featured and implied Solid Snake as the main protagonist of the game. The story underwent numerous changes, such as an early Middle Eastern setting and revisions to the finale in response to the September 11 attacks. Harry Gregson-Williams and Norihiko Hibino composed the score. The game was released in November 2001 for North America and Japan and March 2002 for Europe. An expanded edition, titled Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance was released the following year in each region for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Windows.
Metal Gear Solid 2 received acclaim for its gameplay, graphics, and attention to detail. However, critics were initially divided on Raiden and the philosophical nature of the game's storyline. The game was a commercial success, selling seven million copies by 2004. It has since been considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time, as well as a leading example of artistic expression in video games. The game is often considered ahead of its time for dealing with themes and concepts such as post-truth politics, fake news, alternative facts, synthetic media, and echo chambers, that became culturally relevant in the mid-to-late 2010s. A high-definition remaster of the game was released as part of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (2011), which was re-released in the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 (2023). A prequel to the series, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, was released in 2004, while a direct sequel, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, was released in 2008.
Gameplay
Metal Gear Solid 2 carries the subtitle of "Tactical Espionage Action," and most of the game involves the protagonist sneaking around to avoid being seen by the enemies. Most fundamental is the broader range of skills offered to the player. The first-person aiming mode allows players to target specific points in the game, greatly expanding tactical options; guards can be blinded by steam, distracted by a flying piece of fruit or hit in weak spots. Players can walk slowly, allowing them to sneak over noisy flooring without making a sound, or hang off walkways to slip past below guards' feet. The corner-press move from Metal Gear Solid, which allowed players a sneak peek around the next bend, is expanded to allow players to fire from cover. Other abilities included leaping over and hanging off of railings, opening and hiding in storage lockers, and sneaking up behind enemies to hold them at gunpoint for items and ammunition. Players can shoot out the enemy's radio, so they are unable to communicate with others on their team. The environment also has a more significant impact on the stealth gameplay, taking into account factors such as weather, smell, atmosphere, and temperature.
In Metal Gear Solid 2, the enemy guards are given more advanced AI "to prevent an imbalance of power", and unlike the original Metal Gear Solid, work in squads. They call on their radios for a strike team upon seeing the player, then attempt to flank him and cut off his escape while avoiding the player's attacks. Often strike teams will carry body armor and riot shields, making them a greater threat. Even if the player escapes to a hiding place, a team will sweep in to check the area. The game has a collective enemy AI, where enemy guards work together in squads, can communicate with one another, and react more realistically towards the player. The game's enemy AI was considered one of the best in gaming for many years.
The game expanded its predecessor's cover mechanic, with Solid Snake or Raiden able to take cover behind walls or objects and pop out to shoot at enemies, while the improved enemy AI allowed enemies to also take cover from the player character. The enemies will often take cover to call for backup, but during battle, they will take cover then pop out and shoot at the player or blindly throw grenades from behind their cover. The game features a laser sight mechanic, where a laser sight helps assist with manually aiming a gun. Boss battles and set-pieces remain a case of finding a strategy that bypasses the defenses of the enemy. However, in a major break from action game standards, it is also possible to clear the entire game, including boss fights, without causing a single deliberate death, through use of tranquilizer guns, stun grenades, and melee attacks.
Synopsis
Setting Sons of Liberty takes place within an alternate history of events, in which the Cold War ended during the late 1990s. The game's story focuses on two narratives that occur around and near New York City the first in 2007, two years after the events of Metal Gear Solid; and the second in 2009. The game's plot is the fourth chapter of an overarching plot concerning the character of Solid Snake.
Characters
The main protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2 is a young rookie agent named Raiden.Official Site (Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Konami, 2001) He is supported by his commanding officer, the Colonel, and Rosemary, his girlfriend. Allies formed on the mission include Lt. Junior Grade Iroquois Pliskin, a Navy SEAL of mysterious background who provides his knowledge of the facility; Peter Stillman, an NYPD bomb-disposal expert; Otacon, a computer security specialist and friend of Solid Snake; and a cyborg ninja imitating Gray Fox's persona, first calling itself Deepthroat, then changing its name to Mr. X.
The antagonists are the Sons of Liberty, a group of terrorists who seize control of the Big Shell environmental cleanup facility off the coast of New York City, including anti-terrorist training unit gone rogue Dead Cell, and a Russian mercenary force that patrols the facility. The Dead Cell team members are Vamp, a seemingly immortal man exhibiting vampire-like attributes; Fatman, a rotund man with exceptional knowledge of bombs; and Fortune, a woman whose uncontrollable psychic ability prevents any bodily harm from befalling her. The leader of Sons of Liberty claims to be Solid Snake, previously declared dead after a terrorist attack, later revealed to be Solidus Snake, a third clone of the "Les Enfants Terribles" project. Assisting the Sons of Liberty are Olga Gurlukovich, commander of the Russian mercenaries, and Revolver Ocelot, a disenfranchised Russian nationalist and former FOXHOUND agent, Solid Snake's old nemesis, and henchman of Solidus Snake.
Other characters include Emma Emmerich, Otacon's stepsister and a computer whiz-kid; Sergei Gurlukovich, Ocelot's former commanding officer and Olga's father; President James Johnson, held hostage by the Sons of Liberty; and DIA operative Richard Ames. Liquid Snake returns, seemingly by possessing the body of Ocelot through a transplanted hand. The game also features cameos by Mei Ling, the communications expert who aided Snake in the first game, and Johnny Sasaki, the luckless soldier with chronic digestive problems.
Plot In 2007, Solid Snake infiltrates a tanker traveling down the Hudson River in New York City carrying a new Metal Gear model, RAY. The tanker is hijacked by a group of Russian mercenaries, led by Colonel Sergei Gurlukovich, his daughter Olga, and Ocelot. Ocelot betrays his allies and scuttles the ship in the lower New York Harbor. Upon seeing Snake, Ocelot is possessed by the will of Liquid Snake and escapes with RAY.
Two years later, Solid Snake has been framed as a terrorist for his actions and an environmental clean-up facility called the Big Shell has been erected in the lower New York Harbor to clear up the oil spill caused by the Tanker Incident.
During a tour by US President James Johnson, a terrorist group known as the Sons of Liberty raid the facility, take Johnson hostage, and threaten to destroy it if their demands are not met. FOXHOUND's Raiden is ordered by the Colonel to rescue the hostages and disarm the terrorists. The surviving members of a responding Navy SEAL team, Iroquois Pliskin (secretly Solid Snake) and explosives expert Peter Stillman, help Raiden to disable bombs planted throughout the facility by Fatman. However, the bombs are a decoy that, after being disarmed, activate a timed bomb, which detonates and kills Stillman. Raiden kills Fatman and encounters a mysterious cyborg ninja, who assists him with information. Raiden and Pliskin arrange to transport hostages out of the Big Shell via helicopter, but are confronted by Dead Cell's leader identifying as Solid Snake, flying a Harrier. Raiden shoots down the Harrier, but "Solid Snake" escapes with the stolen Metal Gear RAY. Pliskin reveals he is the real Solid Snake and, along with Otacon, helps locate Johnson.
Upon being rescued, Johnson reveals to Raiden that the United States' democratic process is merely a drama orchestrated by an organization known as "the Patriots", who secretly control the country from the shadows. Furthermore, he reveals that the Big Shell is a façade created to hide Arsenal Gear, a submersible mobile fortress that houses an AI called "GW". He explains that the leader of Dead Cell is his predecessor George Sears, a clone of Big Boss known as Solidus Snake, who, having fallen out with the Patriots, plans to seize Arsenal and overthrow them. Johnson attempts to make Raiden kill him in order to prevent the Sons of Liberty from carrying out a nuclear strike, but Raiden refuses; Ocelot then appears and kills Johnson instead.
Raiden is then tasked with rescuing computer programmer Emma Emmerich, step-sister of Otacon, who plans to upload a virus into GW to disable Arsenal. Before he is able to find Emma, Raiden is confronted by Vamp, who he fights and seemingly kills. Emma is rescued, but before Raiden is able to rendezvous with Snake and Otacon, Vamp reappears and stabs Emma before being shot by Raiden. Emma uploads the virus but dies from her injuries, and the virus is cut off prematurely. Snake tasks a distraught Otacon with rescuing the hostages, then seemingly betrays Raiden and allows him to be captured by the ninja, revealed to be Olga. The Big Shell collapses as Arsenal departs.